Hi,I recently purchased a twin joystick arcade controller,inside the box it has a pcb with an sd card on it and a black molex type connector which connects the pcb to the joystick and buttons.I have virtually no clue about arcade controls and was wondering if the connector is a jamma connector?If it is a jamma connector what would I need to modify the box so that it could take a jamma pcb board?I had my first post removed because it contained links to ebay showing the pcb inside the box and also the controller I purchased.Can I post photos of the pcb and controller or is it against the rules?Can someone tell me if multi-game pandora's boxes are illegal?

Hi,I recently purchased a twin joystick arcade controller,inside the box it has a pcb with an sd card on it and a black molex type connector which connects the pcb to the joystick and buttons.I have virtually no clue about arcade controls and was wondering if the connector is a jamma connector?

A good rule-of-thumb is that almost all of the X-in-1 boards with more than 10 games and/or games from more than one company use both unlicensed ROMS and an unlicensed/hacked version of MAME which means that they are illegal and they are ripping off the work of our friendly neighborhood MAME Devs.

A good rule-of-thumb is that almost all of the X-in-1 boards with more than 10 games and/or games from more than one company use both unlicensed ROMS and an unlicensed/hacked version of MAME which means that they are illegal and they are ripping off the work of our friendly neighborhood MAME Devs.

Scott

Scott is also leaving out the 2 different Multi NeoGeo boards and the arcade SD (that can be used legally and illegally) and numerous other Namco multi boards. There arent very few, theres just a significant amount more of bootlegs.

That being said, what you bought is likely an illegal bootleg but Im giddy with anticipation of the pictures. Please do post them, and attach them to the thread and not a 3rd party host like photobucket or flickr.

Hi,I took some photos of the controller and inside it as well,I will have to use imgur I'm afraid as I am not sure how to attach the photos to the post.I have a few noob questions I hope you might be able to answer about my controller aswell?

photos >

questions>>>

1.Can you tell me if it's possible to buy fake sanwa buttons/joysticks as my controller is supposed to have sanwa joysticks and buttons installed.2.(can you tell me if my buttons are genuine from the photos?)3.Can you also tell me if that's a jamma harness connecting the buttons/joysticks?The pcb has a tf card installed which I tried to slide out but it is solid and I don't want to apply too much force incase I break the pcb.I tried to unplug the black molex type connector but it is also solid and when I pull on it one side of the pcb is rising as it is missing a stand off screw in the left corner.4.(Do you have any idea what type of stand-off screw it is and where I could get one?5.Could you tell me anything about the pcb and if it is good enough quality to play the games at correct speed etc.?6.If it is not great quality is it worth modding?

it looks like the bootleg of the bootleg Pandora 3 and 4 boards. SD card slot must be on the bottom of that one, but its got all the same chips including the A13 processor. Got any pix of the on screen menu?

A good rule-of-thumb is that almost all of the X-in-1 boards with more than 10 games and/or games from more than one company use both unlicensed ROMS and an unlicensed/hacked version of MAME which means that they are illegal and they are ripping off the work of our friendly neighborhood MAME Devs.

Scott

Scott is also leaving out the 2 different Multi NeoGeo boards and the arcade SD (that can be used legally and illegally) and numerous other Namco multi boards. There arent very few, theres just a significant amount more of bootlegs.

That being said, what you bought is likely an illegal bootleg but Im giddy with anticipation of the pictures. Please do post them, and attach them to the thread and not a 3rd party host like photobucket or flickr.

I must have fell off the dock or something, cause I seem to be a bit confused....#1 (that can be used legally and illegally)... #2, There arent very few ...#3, Why pounce on PL1, Right or wrong, he is always there with some kind of direction, not deception. A bootleg is pretty much illegal, in the real world.

I must have fell off the dock or something, cause I seem to be a bit confused....#1 (that can be used legally and illegally)... #2, There arent very few ...#3, Why pounce on PL1, Right or wrong, he is always there with some kind of direction, not deception. A bootleg is pretty much illegal, in the real world.

Arcade SD can be used legally if you only load the ROMs you own. It was designed from the ground up as a direct replacement for failing hardware.Few is subjective . I feel that when there's a dozen or so LEGAL multi-boards I don't consider it very few. There are a significant amount of illegal bootlegs.

it looks like the bootleg of the bootleg Pandora 3 and 4 boards. SD card slot must be on the bottom of that one, but its got all the same chips including the A13 processor. Got any pix of the on screen menu?

As for the controls, they certainly LOOK like genuine Sanwa parts.

Hi,unfortunately I can't take any photos of the on-screen menu at the moment as it doesn't work with my samsung plasma tv as my tv is over 10 years old.At first I thought the hdmi out was faulty but the moderator told me it's probably that my old tv just doesn't support it.....I'm taking it too my parents to try it on their tv on tuesday so if it works I will post some menu screen photos then.

I purchased this for my nephew's christmas and am disappointed that it didn't come with the pandora's box,I originally thought it might be a pcb stripped out a pb4s case (guess not).Anyway I purchased 7 sanwa royal blue snap-in buttons(6x obsf30 and 1x obsf24)and a replacement royal blue ball top for the right controller as he doesn't like green.I couldn't find any white 1 and 2 player start buttons the same size as the small sanwa buttons with the 2.8 micro-switches,do you have any idea where I could get these and a coin button aswell?I intend to have a go at building an arcade twin style controller myself in future using a jamma harness but will need to find some instructions on the forum.

It is a PB4s PCB. I posted a link to a pic of one last night, and it looks exactly like yours. A mod must have deleted it because of the link, though. I can't keep up with all the different rules on the various forums I frequent...

It is a PB4s PCB. I posted a link to a pic of one last night, and it looks exactly like yours. A mod must have deleted it because of the link, though. I can't keep up with all the different rules on the various forums I frequent...

Be ironic if you got moderated and I didnt :p Just attach the pic to a post here, Im confident that pictures of a Pandora 4 are allowed. I concur with it being at minium the same hardware with the aforementioned A13 processor.

They look like genuine Sanwas to me, There are fakes out there but I dont think they normally actually mould "SANWA" on them, Though I could be wrong!

As for the board its not one I have used so no idea.

But it should really be fixed using PCB feet, You can buy a pack of 4 off ebay for a few Cions.... LOL

Can you tell me what you mean by pcb feet?I unscrewed the pcb and it is screwed into raised metal stand-offs that are welded to the metal box of the controller.....the box is all metal with an acrylic top.The box looks like it might be made of Aluminium to me.

Sounds like you don't need them, if the case has built-in risers. Screwing the PCB feet to the metal case would be problematic, too. I'd just leave it as it is.

I always thought the risers were meant to be plastic but I have also seen metal screw-in stud type risers on desktop cases for pc motherboards so I guess it should be ok.I'm just going to leave it like you say,test it tomorrow at my parents and if video works ok and if it does I'll change the right side controller joystick ball-top and buttons to blue and wrap it up for my nephews christmas.

BTW I forgot to mention I managed to get the tf card out ....it doesn't slide out,I had to lift a metal flap/door and a sticker holds the flap down over the tf card.I put the tf card into an adapter last night and stuck it in my laptop running win 10 but it doesn't even show up.

Yeah, the card will be formatted to a Linux filesystem (EXT4, or something) so won't even show up in Windows. It may also be encrypted. I know upgrading these things isn't as simple as just copying new ROM files onto the card, though.

This is a new harness plug that (an unnamed) company in China has been using for a while now on certain models of the Pandora's Box 4S and 4S+. They *only* use it for the boards that come installed in 2 person controllers like this one. The regular PB4S+ units in a Playstation 3 type case and use the standard "Chinese Jamma" set up, which looks like traditional Jamma but the pinout is different since buttons 5 and 6 are on it.

They switched to this new harness plug system about the same time that they made these 2 player units also compatible as PS3 / XBox1 / PC controllers and added a pause function. I think it has to do with that though I'm not sure.

But if you look online you can find the pinout for the 4S+ and see what I mean.

Well I tested it out yesterday and it works fine although I forgot to take menu pics but it has all the games listed on the left and screenshots on the right and it says pandora box 4s aswell.When I took the tf card out of the pcb I removed a qc sticker holding the card in place and used an ordinary self adhesive label to stick it back but I think the label will have to be heat-resistant,does anyone have any idea where I can buy some heat resistant self-adhesive labels for motherboard/pcb?I tried e-bay and can't find anything other than kapton tape and seemingly this isn't very sticky.Would a bic pen cut up for pcb stand-off's be ok as I was thinking about sliding them over the metal stand-offs if they are wide enough that is?Any advice appreciated as I just want to make sure it is safe for my nephew.

Hi,A guy at an online arcade shop told me they should be plastic aswell(don't know why they have to be either?)If it's safe to leave the stand-off's as they are that will save me hassle.I was just worried that the board could get shorted etc.I can't get the SD card to stay in the slot,I must have damaged the door or am not shutting door/inserting sd correctly.I'll need to have a look at it next week and see if I can get it shut without using an adhesive label to stick it downThis photo of the pcb shows something possibly holding the card slot closed,are you certain that the sticker is only there to try and dissuade people from removing the card?

I'm also going to hide some games on the menu and change the settings,also for some reason I couldn't get the coin button working even when changing coin in settings to 1:1 so will have to figure that out aswell.Once I have it set-up and the blue buttons installed I can get it wrapped up for christmas.

those SD card holders are really meant to be used inside a phone where a battery or cover will hold them in place. they are pretty finicky... you have to get them just right. but I wouldn't put it past a big rock candy mountain shenzhen manufacturer to cheap out and use whatever they have (broken or otherwise.)

that photo there looks like a small gob of hot glue holding it from sliding open. not a big deal, hot glue doesn't stick particularly well. just peel it off. you can do the same for yours instead of a sticker or tape or whatever...as long as the card is pressed against the contacts, it will be okay. you can use a sticker or hot glue to hold it if need be.

I'd stick to plastic standoffs if you are making your own. (bic pen or even bought PCB ones) the board may not be equipped to have the ground plane (if it has one on the mounts) actually be connected to ground.

it' is certainly possible to convert that to JAMMA so you could use a pandora's box or something like that... it would be a pain in the butt if you don't know what you are doing though. just a matter of hacking off the connector and wiring the buttons etc. to the appropriate positions.